Concept Art Shows Bowsette Was Nearly Canon

Well what do you know: Nintendo had thought of Bowsette before the internet did, and the character was nearly in Super Mario Odyssey.

Though Bowsette is a character that took the internet by storm, it isn’t a real Nintendo creation, rather fan art that was spawned from the odd introduction of Peachette during this month’s jam packed Nintendo Direct. Or, at least we thought this idea of a Bowser and Princess Peach combination was entirely made up by fans, until today’s release of The Art of Super Mario Odyssey in Japan.

So in THE ART OF SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY that came out in Japan today, there's an scrapped concept of Bowser taking over Peach's body with his own version of Cappy.

Kind of surreal how there could have been an "official" Bowsette long before the fan one took over the internet. pic.twitter.com/gSMOqNDKKf

Twitter user Nao (@Sakusuru) posted this shot of the book full of official concept art today. It allegedly shows a concept where Bowser throws a hat similar to Cappy that allows him to take over/capture Princess Peach’s body, effectively making this a more official version of Bowsette. To further verify these images, more Twitter users that got their hands on the art book posted pictures of the same page online.

Exit Theatre Mode

As Nao noted, it is strange that this more official version of Bowsette actually existed in concept form far earlier than the fan one became an internet sensation, though it appears to be the case. Why Nintendo decided to scrap the idea isn’t clear, but it’s common for many concept art ideas to be left on the cutting room floor during game development.